Nicholas Gilmore

10/27/20

“I’m just not good at art” is something I used to tell myself every time someone asked me why
I’m not in an art class, or why I don't want to paint/draw. I surrounded myself in this bubble of
ignorance of what art really was. All I wanted to accept was that art was drawing or coloring,
and nothing more. That it was something I did in elementary school, and nothing more. I set this
standard for myself until I eventually believed it, I believed it was just who I am. It took me a long
time to figure out, however, that it's not everything I can be. It took me years to figure out that art
isn’t just on a canvas. It can be in a photo, it can be sculpted, reformed, transformed, unformed,
it can be done digitally and so much more. Along with this idea in my head, I believed that you
had an individual, unique creativity when you were very young, and it slowly goes away when
you get older. This is unless you take art seriously, and really retain your creative thinking, can
you find the best creativity in your art. To this day I still believe this idea, but I also believe that
your creativity can be found once again, even as you age into adulthood. However it takes
commitment, and a significant amount of mental clarity to complete. I hope, with the help of this
photography class and digital arts, that i'll be able to find this creativity that I’ve lost for so long,
and someday, i'll be “good” at art.